And after a TV set out of all things. Who would've thunk?

   A reliably good installment in the POSTAL series and overall a solid entry in the new wave of retro FPS/boomshoot games. Brain Damaged doesn't break conventions or really push the needle from any of these perspectives, but it doesn't pretend to do so. Instead, it's focused on delivering a very nicely rounded up, accommodating experience which, as time goes on, has a high chance to win you over with its style, pace, light demand of focus required to enjoy the game, adequate gameplay depth and a good variety of locations and enemy designs.
Interestingly, there's not that much that is needed to be said about it as what you see is pretty much what you get- a highly stylized and modern in its vibe, fast-paced FPS relying on direct combat and mobility, that carries the player throughout a classic (very linear but spiced up with more noticeable arena design philosophy) single-player campaign, built around a simple and goofy story premise. There is more nuance to it of course, depending on the experience both in the POSTAL fandom, and broader genre, most of which is very subjective and a matter of taste.

   On the surface, it's all good. Roughly an 8-12hr campaign offering, backed by a decent handful of replayability factors such as difficulty levels, leaderboards, secrets, easy access to replaying missions at will. From a technical perspective, I have not a single bad word to say about it. All expected game options are there, performance and stability are spotless, optimization is appropriate to the level of visual fidelity, absence of bugs or even minor graphical glitches. From top to bottom, it's a very solid product.
The storytelling and theme of the game ought to be interesting from a newcomer's perspective. Writing and story presentation are enjoyably silly, simple, witty, and don't feel forced or hint developers might be insecure about any part of their project. The pace of storytelling is fine, even if it does become a bit schematic, and one note when it comes to unraveling of the actual main plot, at least for 90% of the game. Dude portrayed in Brain Damage comes off well on every front. Humor, monologues, and one-liners and coherent, and voice actor Corey Cruise delivers a likable, confident performance. It doesn't reach the level of Rick Hunter's work in POSTAL2, the peak in the series, but it still elevates the whole experience and ensures Postal Dudes remains the center of the game's identity.

   With greater scrutiny and harsher assessment, things get a bit more complicated but not necessarily worse. In the end, it all falls into personal taste and expectation. If these are set right- P:BD still remains a good game and a satisfying experience. Presentation, mostly carried by a strong art direction and solid voice work, remains good till the end credits and leaves a stronger imprint in mind than one in WRATH: Aeon of Ruin, Phantom Fury and probably GRAVEN.
On a technical level, it doesn't carry a lot of punch. With basic physics, minimal environmental interactivity, basic gore, no (mechanical) character/weapon customizability, or scarce graphical bells and whistles provided within the Unity engine framework, it does position itself on the lighter side of the 'Crysis spectrum'.
Weaponry, gadgets, and enemy variety are satisfying and smartly distributed throughout the campaign, keeping things fresh and interesting, alongside changing landscape design complexity. The second pillar of combat, mobility, fares slightly worse. As time goes on, besides the zero-g factor, there's little that goes beyond what's introduced in the first level- mainly a mix of slide jumping, strafe hopping, and grappling mechanics provided by the Super Hooker Shotgun. It does the job and fits the depth of the rest of the package, just don't expect any of the Ghostrunner/Turbo Overkill edge.
Alongside thematic variety, level design manages to remain evenly entertaining, skillfully scaling and mixing the corridor and arena nature of the locations, sprinkled with equally varied encounters that require altered tactics, shifts of focus, and more mindful utilization of weapon alt fires and consumable powerups. None of the particular locations nor the game as a whole overstay their welcome. Even though it is debatable that more could be crammed in and varied along the way, I don't think what's already here is insufficient to carry the game along to the finish line, keeping in mind that the story side of things exists more as a gesture and tone-setter, and doesn't come into play on any greater level.

   Whether this thing delivers on the 'POSTAL feeling' side of things is hard to judge, as one- it is a playful spin-off made by people on the other side of the world, and two- such a thing hardly exists, with widely varying quality and variety of gameplay features throughout the series. These days most people would point out to POSTAL2 as the baseline (as III and 4 follow its trails) instead of the original one. Brain Damaged certainly puts its own spin on things, and while I'd LOVE to see a sequel, I don't think, for multiple reasons, this should become the blueprint going forward for bigger budgeted POSTAL 5. As a smaller spin-off, Brain Damaged sheds a lot of expectation and baggage from its back and manages to surprise and leave you feeling good about it and the IP.
The question 'what POSTAL is or should be' is a topic for a whole separate discussion. On some levels, the series has been losing its significance, impact, and allure as the time went on, and elements like depicted violence, juvenile humor, or vulgarity (by intent in design or shifting ground) have been losing punch and sharpness. That says almost equally as much about these games as the broader culture I guess. Brain Damaged plays mostly safe, delivering comically grotesque violence and focuses mainly on pop-cultural nods and references and in general- tries to not rock the boat too much. Which, even for a lighter game, is disappointing. Especially when it occasionally plays less safe, it pokes the 'nerd virgin' archetype and tries to land a few cheap shots, that feel weirdly anachronic to the point of being almost nostalgic. Within the broader context, even tame and lame notions like 'priest touching altar boys' or 'Cletus the redneck' (now- with a red hat, which doesn't improve things, and was hardly raising eyebrows in the days of Redneck Rampage) feel weirdly out of step and out of time, considering target groups and the vibe of the rest of the game, referring other, recent video games, franchises like Star Wars or ALIEN, or surface-level cultural POIs (border wall, coronavirus, white picket fence suburbs).
Nothing is misleading or ill-intentioned, just feels a bit undefined, and in the end it's even less of a complaint, and more a hope for the future return to form as the modern world and popculture (ESPECIALLY in the US) offer an amazing bounty of the subject to ridicule and criticize. While the dark, potentially psychologically weird days of POSTAL1 are long gone, there's a place for a series like this to be a voice in the broader discourse, offering some valuable commentaries and things to reflect on, under the coat of violence and fart humor. Here expecting more might've been unfair, as it might come with a lot of heat that would primarily fall on Hyperstrange, and not more seasoned RWS.

       POSTAL: Brain Damaged is an honest, straightforward, potentially a bit safe and timid, nevertheless satisfying and well-crafted game that wants to have careless fun and only asks for willingness to be taken for a ride. Good entry point for newcomers, worth checking out by veterans, and marks a point of stabilization that bookmarks hopefully an upward trend for the series. 

       Grab it, SISSY.

Imagine Crack Life and Doom 2016 merged into one game, and you get this.
In a world full of goyslop games, this is a rare gem that is kino.

this game is extremely reddit